www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News What you'll be hearing a lot of in the next few days/weeks/months/years ...

Why do so many Americans and Western Europeans think that women should be ordained? I saw on CNN that 55% of American Catholics (surveyed) favored this?

Which 55% were they talking to? Only those in New York and California?

Sometimes I don't understand the Americans. A friend of mine from seminary called me and said he heard a lot of people say they'd leave if Ratzinger was pope. "Good, then we can get back to business" was his reply.

JW10631, enjoying Gaudior's posts immensely!

I wonder if these "liberals" will join the "blue state" types who claimed they would emigrate to Canada or New Zealand if Bush were re-elected. So far I haven't noticed any mass migrations....

A side note: I distinctly recall a fellow minor-seminarian, sometime between 1974 and 1978 (during the papacy of Paul VI, and well before his repose), predicting that Archbishop Ratzinger (would he have been a Cardinal then?) would someday be Pope.

Martin

Certainly it has never been a Catholic "thing" to wish a smaller CHurch for the so-called "True believers". That was the stuff of sects but not the Catholic Church.

My friends,

NEITHER conservatisim and liberalism ARE GOOD!!

We MUST be orthodox in faith and catholic in love, just like the late John Paul II put it.

I don't see Pope Benedict XVI as conservative, but rather an orthodox. I'm happy the cardinals allowed the Holy Spirit take their heart to elect a new Pope.

But I do have to laugh that the media was saying "it'll be the Holy Spirit that'll decide the new pope" then NOW they're saying "it's the cardinals that picked him and wanted to take a step backwards in the Church progressivness." (yeah I'm saying that paraphrasely).

STUPID people! Indeed! If people are saying that the cardinals made a mistake, then that's DIRECTLY telling that the G-d of Holy Spirit made a mistake! Whoooo I'd stay away from them, lest the lightening strike them for such blasphemy.

G-d bless,

SPDundas
Deaf Byzantine

What an incredible image!!!

I am personally delighted about the election, and have always been a fan of the Panzer-Kardinal. His orthodoxy is as unremitting as his personal humility. The fact that he tried to escape Rome several times and that Pope John Paul II would not let him is terribly ironic. Perhaps the "Great Pope" new that this soft spoken Bavarian would one day succeed him in ministry?

He is also a great supporter of the Eastern Churches.

I remember reading an interview with him somewhere that indicated that if he ever retired from his post as Prefect, he would be interested in pursuing two topics of study: one is on the transfer of authority from Jerusalem to Rome and the other on the theology of original sin. Now that retirement will not be an option, one hopes that he is still able to turn some of his mental energies to these two important topics, especially for East-West relations.

God bless our Holy Father, Pope Benedict! (I write these words with my eyes starting to water...)

Pace e'bene,

Gordo

Man has not seen nor have ears heard what God has in store for them. Thank you Jesus that we don't know and thank you for giving us such a wonderful man as our new PAPA.

Hello

One of the things that I admire of the past of this Pope is the fact that he was also a soldier who fulfilled a duty with his country until the last moment.

How stupid are these people who do not like the new Pope because he served at the German Army and defamate him. The un-christian medias who have been brainwashing us for so many years will start attacks for sure.

He never supported the Nazi evils, his father himself was opposed to Nazism and he's very respected by the Jewish community in Germany.

A more moderate way of Ecumenism, much closer to Orthodoxy than Protestantism is expected, and this is very positive.

I was not able to catch all of it, but Pope Benedict XVI brother is also a priest.

Here is the site of his fan club.
http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com/Biography.html

Certainly we will be hearing slander against our Pope for years to come. I expect he will get more on him than Pope Pius XII has had, and I expect as Catholics we are in for a time of fire and trials.

The press, from all appearances, has wanted the former Cardinal to be the Pope, because they have wanted the opportunity for some time to create division within the Church. They feel they can use him as their whipping boy, and they will. Be prepared, but be not afraid!

My own reactions is that of surprise (I did not expect him to be chosen). Certainly he is respected, but there are many who disagree with him on many central issues. This however also goes to show how disagreement within the Church is accepted and acceptable -- even by our present Pope. He certainly has an interesting history, starting out with Hans Kung, and then going separate ways with him.

He will surprise many people. As the former CDF chief, he was clearly conservative in the role, but he also saw it as that -- a role. It needed someone who would question the orthodoxy of new ideas or new representation of ideas. The Church needs to be cautious while going forward. He however has great theological abilities, and is indeed a genius. This does not mean I agree with all of his own personal views, just as I did not with Pope John Paul II. But I do think he will not be just a "transitional" Pope, but one who will surprise many.

Expectation from him -- I have some. One I think he will set out to reform more of the internal makeup of the curia, in ways which are needed. He knows there have been scandals, and he knows what needs to be done.

However, if Pope John Paul II was a central figure in the rejection of the communist ideal. I do think Pope Benedict XVI will go and deal more with the flip side of the same problem. This means I think he will, as he has done consistently before, be highly critical of the "Western secular" culture, esp. its unrestricted capitalistic approach. I see him focusing more on social justice than people might expect, but having read his statements on social justice, it is important to him (as is good doctrine, of course).

Now this was a choice that I was not expecting.
I am thrilled, not because it is or is not Ratzinger, but because it is Benedict XVI!

I had predicted for a while that no matter who was elected Pope, hard days would be in store for him. For a while now as John Paul's health was declining it was possible to see that the liberals and enemies of the church were holding back. They knew that to attack him would be to shoot themselves in the feet because he was so admired and respected.
All their anger would be reserved for a successor who did not have the support and moral authority that John Paul had won for himself over 27 years.
Now the attacks will come for sure, they will be angry and desperate attacks, but the man they will be attacking is not some wobbly Cardinal from over the hills. He can take what they have in store for him and far more!
What I say is, "Bring it on!"

As for people leaving the Church, it saddens we deeply, but if these are people whose aim it is to subvert the church then I can only wonder if they were truly a part of the Church in the first place.
Filipe

I missed that one! Wish I had seen the look on the reporters' faces when they found out that the rest of the world could care less what American reporters think about things.

Vie

More than chuckling I think...when I heard the announcement yesterday my first thought was that John Paul II had been whispering in the Holy Spirit's Ear

Vie

I just saw an interview on TV with Fr. Fessio. The interviewer asked Fr. Fessio if the new Pope really understood the Church in America. Fr. Fessio said that when he talked to Cardinal Ratzinger about that in the past, the Cardinal already knew everything about us - both good, and bad. Fr. Fessio said the new Pope had incredible knowledge about such things. I don't think anyone will pull the wool over the eyes of this Pope.

The highest accolade I've yet heard given to our new Pope, is that he is out of step with the modern world.

It's amazing to see the contempt and anger being directed at Benedict XVI, from radical feminist nuns ! and other pseudo-Catholics as they publicly lament the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as a disaster for the church, the worst possible man for the job, etc. Certainly no previous election of a Pope in the last hundred years has met with so much controversy. Strangely this makes me all the more optimistic about our new Pope.